Renovations

Well here are a few pictures from our kitchen renovation. I'm missing some before shots, I think they are still on my camera. The cabinets were brown. We also had butcher block counter tops. We still need to paint the walls and put up back splash but I think its looking awesome! My hubby and Mark did a great job! We also had help from our brother in law, Nick, with putting in our appliances and Gabe and Tara helped paint the cabinets a little too. :)

In Our House

We are in our new home! We've been in here for about 2 weeks now. We really love it and the kids are loving our driveway and back yard. They probably spend about 2-3 hours a day riding up down our driveway and running around the yard, jumping in the leave piles and chasing Chloe. Oh and even our dog is loving it here! She has always been such a lazy, non-playful dog, but since we've moved here she actually play with the kids! I think everyone is enjoying our space.
We are pretty much unpacked now. We have some stuff in the office still in boxes and a few items in the garage that need put away but for the most part we are settled in. This coming Wednesday we will be getting our new counter tops in and Jeff is planning on staining our cabinets soon. We also got our pool covered and hopefully this next week we will get the fence put up around it. Last week we had some of the teens over from our church who helped us with yard work and cleaning windows, ceiling fans, blinds, and cabinets. They are such a helpful bunch! I love 'em! :) I'm so thankful for the help we get from our church family. If it wasn't for them we wouldn't have been moved to our new house for free! We had about eight people show up that day to help us move and they brought their trucks and trailers for us. No moving truck for us, we moved Georgia style! :)
Maybe on my next post I will have some pictures of the house. Maybe I can do some before and afters of our kitchen. :)

Busy Busy!

We have been so busy this month with buying a house, work, school, church and kids. Right now we are still waiting to close on the house and we are praying that we can start moving in on Saturday. The closing day was set for November 1st but that is now being pushed back because the VA wants the septic tank dug up, pumped and inspected. Our wonderful real estate agent said she would pay for it since she didn't put that the homeowner provide the letter that he had it done 2 years ago in the contract. So now we are waiting for this to be done and then sent back to the VA and then back to our banker and then she has to prepare everything for closing. Sheesh! Praying that it all goes quickly b/c we have to be out of our rental by November 11th. On top of all of this Jeff had a class start today that he is busy teaching in, I have physical therapy appointments twice a week, the boys have school to get done, and I'm trying to pack between answering their questions and instructing them on what to do. We are feeling a bit overwhelmed but still so very excited about this house! I cannot wait to move in and make it ours! We were hoping to get a guy in to it this week to give us an estimate on the kitchen counter tops. Our plans are to do new counter tops, paint the existing cabinets, put up new back splash and hopefully buy new appliances. We also NEED to put a fence around the pool, that will be done w/in the first week since we have a little 2 year old running around! After we finish the kitchen and fence, we really don't have a lot more to do to the house other than landscaping and hopefully one day to update the master bath and put up a privacy fence around the whole backyard. One thing at a time though!! :)
Hopefully I will have pictures of our new house to post with in the next few weeks! Keep praying for us to keep sane and that we close on the house this week! :)

October Update

Loving October! This month has been a great month so far. We started it off with my parents flying down to visit us for 10 days. They actually just left today, bummed, but we had a great visit with them. The kids loved seeing their mima and papa again and Jeff and I love having them here as well. My mom and I did a lot of shopping and we also went on some walks with the kids and I somehow still got some school done as well. Thursday was my 30th birthday so Jeff took off work to watch the kids for me so my mom and I could go out all day. That night he surprised me with a party at O'Charleys which was a lot of fun.
This month we've also been under contract with the house I blogged about previously. So far it is ours unless the appraisal goes bad and the guy can't come down. So we are waiting patiently for the news on that.
I had a MRI done last week on my back b/c I've been having back issues every since my first pregnancy. I just a call from the dr today and she said I have 2 bulging discs, my L4-L5 and my L5-S1. I'm happy to finally know whats up with my back and I will be starting physical therapy this month. I hope this helps my back so I can get back to normal.

Accepted!

The homeowner accepted our offer yesterday! We are so excited and so nervous! I am the one who is nervous actually, Jeff handles all of this so well! So now we have 17 days to back out before it is ours. EEEeeee! :O This coming week is the home inspection and also the VA will do an appraisal on the home. Hopefully it all works out b/c if it does, the home should be ours on Oct. 28th!

Making an Offer

Today we are making an offer on a house we found! I'm really excited and so very VERY nervous! Praying that if this house is not the one God has for us that the guy won't accept nor come down to where we are comfortable.
If you're wondering about the house, its a cute little 3 bdrm 2 bath house that has about 1.4 acres and a pool! :) It needs a little cosmetic work done on the inside which is ok with us. We just love the yard and so we are ok with doing the inside work to have the yard we want.
Pray for us please that we make the right decisions! We are going in tonight to go over the contract with our realtor and then I guess we'll send it off! :)

"I'm 4!"

Tuesday night at Josiah and Gaber's soccer practices Tara announced to everyone that she is 4! The lady next to me asked if Tara was in pre-k. I told her no that Tara is only 2 which totally surprised her. Tara heard me say that she was only 2 and so she yelled out, "No I'm 4! I can play soccer now!" :) Tara wants to play soccer like her brothers and knows she needs to be 4, so maybe she thinks if she says she's 4 that I will let her play too. :)

House Hunting

Last Thursday Jeff and I started house hunting. It is a lot of fun, but also frustrating at times when we find a house that is almost what we want. There always seems to be one or two things that just doesn't work for our family. Last Friday we had it narrowed down to two houses. We wished we could have a little of this house and a little of that house, of those two. Our realtor, Joy, told us it would be that way. She, btw, is very helpful and patient w/ us, first time home buyers! :) We are going out again hopefully Thursday, if everyone's schedules permit, and it looks as though we have a nice list of houses to check out. Keep praying for us please! We know God will bring us the right one in his time, we need to be patient and prayerful about this big decision!
The kids are having fun house hunting also. Gaber picked one out on Friday b/c he said, "it has fun little acorns all over the backyard to play with!". The boys also decided they would chip in and help pay for the house. I'm thinking they thought it would give them rights to the master bedroom! Tara said she'd help pay too, she then pulled a penny out of her pocket. :)

September!!!

I am so happy to be out of the summer months! It has been such a hot summer down here in GA. We are so much closer to fall now, which is my favorite season, and closer to cooler weather. Although, in Ga, they don't really have autumn. :( It goes from the hot summer to winter and we don't really see much of the pretty colors of fall. But I will take what I can get.
Today Jeff and I are going to talk to a realtor about buying a house. I'm a little excited and a little not. Its a big step and kind of scary when there is no guarantee we will stay here. Please pray for us that we make the right decisions! My husband really wants to buy so I'm giving in. We are hoping to find a house with a little land outside of the city, but not to far. I just don't want my neighbors right on top of us!
My parents are coming to visit us in 4 weeks! I'm so excited about this, I can't wait! They will be here for 10 days. My mom and I are excited about shopping and if the weather isn't too hot we will get in a lot of walking. :)
Not much new going on. Just doing school with the boys and staying busy with the teens in our church. Tara is mixed up in the middle of all this! The boys have been having fun in soccer. Josiah has been the goalie for his team. This is his favorite position, I think b/c he doesn't have to run. Gaber on the other hand prefers running after the ball. I think he'd be very unhappy being stuck in the goalie box. Tara tries to get in and be a part of the team. On Monday night she sat in with Gaber's team during the devotion and snack time and somehow got herself a gatorade and snack. :)
That's about it! Happy September!!!! :)

Bloggity Blog just to Blog :)

I'm trying to blog every month so I figured I better get at August's post!
Yesterday the boys and I started their school. The day went very well, I was happy to see they were actually a little excited about starting. Josiah wasn't excited about the actual work but more about being a 4th grader! Yes, 4th grade...I have a 4th grader...*sigh*. Feeling...much....much older. I know we've officially started when I've got a computer on my kitchen table, paces spread across the other side of the table and a pencil box buried somewhere beneath a pile of "nice job!", "Wow!", Super Star!" sticker sheets. Also somewhere on the table is the book I am trying to read in between questions and complaints, my cell phone that just bing binged me (got a text from you Katie!), and my thumbdrive needed to back up Siah's work....oh and the usual kitchen table stuff, salt/pepper shaker and some napkins. :) Earlier this kitchen table was an art center for the up and coming, soon to be famous painter, Tara. :) She loves to paint and I love to let her b/c it keeps this 2 year old happy, content and very mucho busy for at least 30-45 minutes! Today we used an old poster board and some washable paint and she painted me a beautiful picture of who knows what! I did get a sweet little Tara hand print in there too! She also painted a little of her dress, elbow and lower lip...not sure if she sneaked a taste while my back was turned...hmmmm.
Here in about an hour this school/art table needs to be a dinner table so I'd better stop my bloggity blogging and get to cleaning and cooking!

Summer Camps

Last week Josiah went to church camp for his 2nd year. A couple of months ago he told me he wasn't going, and I told him Yes you are! :) I knew he would have fun, just as he had last year. It was weird not having my Siah home with us but I'm so glad he did go b/c he got saved while there! Thursday, July 14th he accepted Jesus as his Savior! Also this brave boy of ours sang a solo at camp! He was asked if he wanted to sing and he said sure! He chose to sing Jesus Loves me, in Japanese. All the people there thought it was pretty cool, from what I heard. Our boys from our church also won 1st place in basketball and baseball, I think. Josiah had the winning hit and run for baseball! He didn't even think to tell me about that, I had to hear it from his counselor. I'm hoping to go as a counselor next year to jr camp b/c I'd love to be there and watch him play in the sports and maybe sing again! Also Gaber will get to go next year. :)
This week Jeff is gone with the teens to senior camp. We both were hoping that I would get to go too but we couldn't find a babysitter. I was starting to feel frustrated about this b/c I was wanting to be there and help Jeff and to be there for our teen girls but then our pastor said something in one of his sermons that got me thinking. He mentioned how one of our missionaries was needing money to fix their house b/c scorpions were getting inside and biting/stinging their children. I sat there and thought about how I was thinking that I had it so hard b/c I don't have family near that can babysit, but here are people putting up with much harder difficulties! That really put things into perspective for me. As bummed as I felt about not going, I really don't have it that bad! I may not be able to find a babysitter easily but I'd rather deal with this than the other! So, I figured I wasn't meant to go this year to camp. God must have wanted me to stay home with my children, which is not a bad option :).
So far my week with the kids isn't too bad. I took them to the pool this morning when I realized Tara's fear of planes is much more serious that I had thought. Any time she hears one she comes running to me and clings on for dear life. She hasn't always been afraid of them though. About one month ago we were at the pool and two F-16 (i think) flew right over our heads, so low you could see all the details on their planes. Well, it was obviously super loud and she flipped! So now anytime she hears one she comes running. Poor girl! Hoping she gets over this since F-16s flying over is a common occurrence here by the air force base!
I had better get to doing the laundry, I have a lot to do from Josiah being at camp! Lots of stinky boy clothes to wash! :)

Our Weekend

We had a busy and fun weekend here and it went way to fast like always. Saturday morning we had bus visitation. We take the 3 kiddos along with us, they mostly like to go, but Saturday was so hot that even I was dragging out there in that heat. Tara loves going. But she is a little confused. She thinks the bus is called bus visitation. So when we get off the bus she yells out, "Where's bus visitation? I get on bus visitation!" :) After bus we went to Taco Bell with the kids and one other guy from our church. On our way there Tara yelled, "I want Taco Bell water!" Thinking the heat was getting to her too! The rest of the afternoon I cleaned while Jeff and the guy from our church played a game then that night another guy from church came over for a bible study and then guitar lessons for Jeff. They made a deal that Jeff would teach him more about the bible and in return, that guy would teach Jeff how to play his guitar. :) I really hope they stick to this b/c I would love for Jeff to learn how to play! :) After their lessons we went out bowling with the kids and the 2 guys from church plus others. Gaber had his first winning game against Siah which made him smile from ear to ear! I helped Tara bowl and we managed to score a 77. :) After bowling we came home and put the kids to bed and rented a movie and had lots of junk food. I felt very blah after all that soda and candy! :) But its so good while eating it!
Sunday we had church, of course, and then we had our all day teen activity. We played softball outside in the 99 degree heat from 1-4pm! They all had fun though and no one got dehydrated, thank God! Then we had church again and after church Tara was able to pull a whole group together to eat at McDonalds. I don't know how she did it! My plans were to go home and eat something small and healthy but she managed to get a group of us there!
Well we had a great weekend and now I'm having troubles getting motivated to do anything on this Monday. I gotta get busy though b/c the guys are coming over again tonight for another bible study and more guitar lessons. Thankfully they are guys and they could care less how clean my floors are or if there is some dust on the table! :)

#10

Today is Jeff and my 10th anniversary! I say this a lot, but time really goes by so fast. I just can't believe we've been married for 10 years and have 3 wonderful children.
We've been threw so much these past 10 years and I'm so thankful for where we are today. I love Jeff so much, I love our family and I love our life together that God has given us.
So now I will try to name what we've done every year to celebrate our anniversary. I think I did this last year, I will try not to peak at my answers from then. :)
1st- in Spokane, WA we went to a waterfall and out to eat
2nd- in Biloxi, MI we left Josiah with some friends for one night and we went to the Six Flags in LA.
3rd- in the Azores, we went out to eat at an Italian place and I was prego with Gaber.
4th- we were in FL for Jeff's sister's wedding. Can't remember really celebrating that one. :(
5th- back in the Azores, pastor's daughter babysat while we ate out somewhere.
6th- in Okinawa, Japan. We celebrated early b/c Jeff was about to deploy. We ate at a yummy place called Arin Karin and then went to the Macaroni Grill for desert.
7th- in Okinawa, prego with Tara. Jeff's parents were visiting us. I think we celebrate at Okuma, a military resort there.
8th- in Okinawa, still :), hmmmm...may have to peak at my answers from before. I can't remember!
9th- in Georgia, and...um...we ate out somewhere. Its funny that I'm forgetting the most recent ones! Sheesh!
10th- we went on a cruise to the Bahamas! Tonight we are taking the kids out to eat with us to the Olive Garden. :)

Maybe someday I will scan some wedding pictures of ours so I can post them. Jeff and I got married back before everyone had digital cameras...man we are old! hahaha

Back to School

The kids and I have been enjoying our break from school work for the past 3 weeks. We had lolo and lola here for about 2 weeks, Jeff and I went on a cruise, and we have already visited the pool countless times. I am determined this summer to help my boys remember what they learned last year by continuing with school through the summer. To my surprise they were actually a little excited to get started again. Today Gaber is doing his English class, which amazingly is one of his favorites. Josiah is working on multiplication today, which has been the hardest thing for him. We have been working on memorizing his multiplication for a while now and he still does not have it down. I've tried so many things, so if anyone out there has a good idea please let me know.
We will still visit our pool every week and enjoy summer but will try to not loose everything this summer too! :) Hopefully we will be ahead of the game by the time we start 1st grade and 4th grade!!!

Cruisin'!

Jeff and I got back on Saturday from our 10th anniversary vacation. We went on a cruise to Key West and then to Nassau, Bahamas. :) It was a lot of fun and very relaxing. Jeff's parents came down to GA to watch the kiddos for us, thank you lolo and lola! While in Key West we went para sailing and shopping. In the Bahamas we went to the Blue Lagoon and also shopping. :) I didn't get to do much shopping in the Bahamas b/c to our surprise all stores close down at 6. As we were walking around the streets all the doors just started closing on us and I started to panic b/c I still had not found a present for the boys! Luckily we ran across one store closer to the cruise ship that was still open. Today is our 3rd day back on land and I still feel the rocking motion of the ship. I'm not feeling sick just feeling like I'm still on the boat. Luckily I did not get sea sick, we weren't to sure if I would or not since I get sick easily on rides and even in the car if I look down to much.
Here are a few pics from our trip...


a little windy that night



enjoying a nice evening out on the deck



para sailing

Thursday Family Night

We have been doing a family night every Thursday for a year or more now. It usually includes a kid friendly meal either cooked by me or ordered in, icecream, and games. Lately the kids have been wanting to play a board game like Sorry or Monopoly. For icecream we usually end up at DQ. Last night we decided to change it up a little and go out for pizza at a new place. We took them to Stevie B's pizza which turned out to be really good. Its a buffet like Cici's but also it has crazy pizza creations and an arcade. Jeff and I tried their loaded baked potato pizza which was really good dipped in marinara and we also tried their cheeseburger pizza which strangely reminded me of a cheeseburger from McD's. I think the kids stayed safe with cheese pizza and pepperoni pizza. Gaber and Tara also enjoyed the dessert pizzas and icecream. As good and fun as it was, buffets are just a bad idea b/c Jeff and I left stuffed! I probably ate twice the amount that I usually do! I just had to try it all! :) At the end of the night we went bowling. This was Tara's first time bowl and she had a blast! Mommy or daddy would take her up there and help her push the ball down the lane. She would tell us, "you watch" and try to push us away! I think if we would have just watched, no one else would have a turn b/c the ball would never make it down the lane! She did pretty well with a score of 20 something and only one foul. :) Gaber did well too, of course he had the bunkers (is that right? bunkers? that doesn't sound right?) up and he scored in the 70's. Josiah did really well with no bunkers but scored in around 30.
Between pizza and bowling we had one extra stop that is not part of family night. We took the kids to the funeral home for a viewing of one of our church members who died Tuesday night. This lady was also Gaber's sunday school teacher so we thought it would be good for them to go and learn from this. I explained to them there is nothing to be afraid of, that it is just a part of life. Gaber had many questions when he saw her laying there. First of all he asked who it was, it just didn't look like her. Then he asked why she was in that box. Then he wanted to go up closer to see her better. I'm glad they all did well with this and understood that she is in heaven now.

One of Those Days

Saturday was one of those days where I just shake my head. It started off as a normal day. We had breakfast, went to bus visitation, and ate lunch. That afternoon Jeff went out to some people's house with some other men in our church to help them with some yard work. Jeff tells me that night that one of the teens found a worm and so who decides to eat the worm? The teen, no, my hubby. Yep. Then that evening Gaber walks out of the bathroom with a look of concern on his face. I ask him if he washed his hands as I continue to walk toward the kitchen. He walks up to me and says, "I have a battery stuck in my ear." *shaking head* I was like, What? Thinking first of a double A battery, which obviously wouldn't fit but that is what I thought of. So I take him to the table and pull open his ear to find one of those little round batteries shoved way down in that ear. Yep. I did get it out, didn't think I'd be able to, but with a pair of tweezers I was able to grab a hold and pull it out. Then he tells me he had it up his nose earlier but was able to blow it out. Yep. *shaking head* Oh and he had been in the bathroom trying to fish it out himself AND he was looking for the tweezers to use. Thankfully we had them put away.
Yep. Just one of those days.

Just Some Pics

Gabe and Tara playing on the tractor




We went to the Children's Museum in Atlanta last week. Here is Jeff and Tara
painting on the wall together.



I love the big buildings in the city. :)



Tara walking Chloe



Siah putting away the dishes, his new chore. He does a great job too! He lines up all my cups perfectly!



The tent we made the kids on Thursday. They played in this for hours!



Tara helping me cook.

Early Mornings

This week I started getting up early with my hubby so we could read our bibles and pray together before he leaves for work. Going from sleeping in to 8:30 or 9 am to waking at 6:15 am was quite a jump and not easy for me! To top it off we ran out of coffee 2 days ago. Even with all my grogginess in the morning, I've really enjoyed getting up and having a special time with God and Jeff in the morning. Its also nice to start off this way instead of taking care of my children's needs right away. I love my children, but this start to my day is so much better! :) I really hope I can keep this up and not let my laziness get in the way.
This week has also been more productive for me. Monday I had my grocery shopping done before 9 am and then had my kitchen mopped before 11. Tuesday I got Tara's room cleaned and organized, vacuumed and my room vacuumed, and all 3 bathrooms cleaned before lunch. Wednesday I got all laundry done and the office cleaned up before lunch. Today I got coffee for Jeff and I from Starbucks and a blanket tent made for the kids (with Jeff's help) before 9:15. :) Ok, not so much cleaning done today but the kids tent was more important. :)
Hoping that blogging about this will motivate me now and in the future to continue with this new early morning thing. :)

Wordless Wednesday

A Whole Lotta of Updating

So a lot has happened since I last posted. Here it all is, and probably not in order.
1. Josiah's arm has healed up, Praise God! I took him in today for his 4th x-ray and the bone has healed and looks great. He can now skateboard and bicycle again!
2. Jeff made it home safely from Afghanistan, another praise! He has been home for a little over a month now. He had one week off, then had to go in for the next 2 weeks for a class and then he had this week off. The kids and I have enjoyed having him home. Monday he goes back to work, *sniff*, and we will be back to normal in the Rybold house.
3. Jeff's parents visited.
4. Josiah had his 9th birthday! Where has the time gone? I mean, seriously, how do Jeff and I have a 9 year old? Sheesh. This year we are doing family birthdays. No big parties this year. So we celebrated at home with just us. He chose a chocolate cake and asked for pizza for dinner. He got a lego starwars game for the Wii from us, some beyblades, Megamind, and more beyblades.
5. Jeff had his 29th birthday! So now I am not old any more since he reached my age. lol We celebrated late for Jeff but we did go out to Longhorn Steakhouse this week and had a super yummy dinner. He also received an embarrassing show at the restaurant from the waiters who sang a weird version of happy birthday. He says he wasn't embarrassed but I think he was a tiny little bit. :)
6. Tara is pretty much potty trained now. So is this potty adventures #5 or #6 now? I didn't keep up with that like i planned. She is doing great. She pretty much pees in the toilet 100% of the time. She is still getting the hang of going #2 in the toilet. She's not scared to at all, the timing is just so off for her. She usually wakes up from her nap with poo in the pullup. *sigh* Maybe about 2-3x a week we actually get lucky and get her to do it in the toilet. We are very proud of her and she is very proud of herself too. She gets 2 m&m's for peeing and so after she goes she squeals in excitement and yell's "I get 2 of them!" :)
7. School is going fine. Yes I've kept up with it even with Jeff coming home. I gave the boys one day off after daddy got back and then we got back to it. I do not want to get behind. We should be finishing up in May but I plan on doing some form of school threw the summer too. Especially with Gaber's reading and Josiah's memorization of multiplication. I think it was easier to memorize it myself than to help him memorize it. Last year in 2nd grade he had up to the 5's memorized, but this year he has some how forgotten all of it. Ugh.

Well, I think that is everything that has happened since I last bloggity blogged. If not, oh well! :)
Happy April!

Broken Arm

Last night after supper the kids and I went on a short walk which they all love to do. When we got home the boys decided to skateboard and Tara wanted to ride her trike. The boys were so excited because we had new neighbors moving in next door and so I think they were trying to show off a little bit with their skateboards. I was helping Tara ride her trike down the hill when I heard Josiah fall off his skateboard and hit the ground. When he first fell he didn't cry, but he kinda screamed when his right hand hit the ground. I could tell he was trying to be tough and not cry b/c of the new neighbor kids outside, but he ended up flipping over to his back, grabbed his arm and yelled out, "I think I broke my arm!" I immediately think that he was ok, he tends to over react about scrapes and bruises. I get Tara off the trike and run over to him to help him get his coat off so I could check out the arm he hurt. I didn't see anything at first showing a break, not even any scrapes on the hand he hit but he was sure crying now. (I really don't like thinking about this, it breaks my heart knowing he really was laying there with a broken arm *sniff*) So next I get the kids in and have Siah sit at the dining room table where I look his arm over and then I try to have him move it, which he was doing a little but was complaining and crying about his elbow. About 5 minutes later I notice some swelling in his elbow so I call Jeff's friend, Shawn, to come over and check it out for me. He looks it over and said I should take him in b/c it looked bad. The rest of the evening was spent at two different medical places, x-rays, crying, begging us to leave it alone, and sleeping in the ER. Around 11 pm the released us from the ER b/c the decided that yes it was broke but it was not a life threatening break so they said to go home and then go to the orthopedic office in the morning. Today we spent our day in two different doctor offices, the first one Josiah's pcm who had to give us a referral and then finally the orthopedic. There they told me his break was a borderline surgery and that it was up to me. Seriously? All I want is the best thing done for my kid's arm and there I sat not knowing what to do. I was wishing Jeff was there to help make this decision, but he wasn't so I asked the doctor what he would do. He said if it were his son he wouldn't get the surgery, he would just get a cast and let it heal on its own. So that's what we did. Today we could only get a splint b/c of the swelling, in 10 days he will have the cast. To get the splint on they had to bend his arm into a 90 degree angle and his arm sure didn't want to bend that way and poor Siah let us know it wasn't feeling good. He sat their crying and pleading with the doctor to stop while one nurse held his other hand away and the 2nd nurse helped the doctor bend it and wrap it. I sat there in tears praying that they could hurry it up. Stuff like this is just so hard on a mom. Its so hard seeing your child hurt, I seriously wanted to take the pain for him.
I'm praying for a better night tonight. Hoping Josiah can sleep better, last night he was awake a lot crying and yelling for me. Praying for his arm to heal right since it was my decision not to operate and praying it didn't harm his growth plates.
He is my 2nd child to break a bone, Gaber broke his arm when he was 4. I hope Tara doesn't follow in her brother's footsteps!

New News

Now Jeff is coming home early! Yes you heard me right, guess we never exited the roller coaster! :) So what I understand is, some high up guy in the AF found out that Jeff and the other AF guys had not left Afghanistan yet and was mad b/c they were supposed to have left. So now the people who were keeping them there, supposedly underhandedly, are getting them outta there fast now! YaY! :) So, he should be leaving sometime this month and it actually, for-surely, positively (lol) seems true this time. He has his release papers signed and dates to fly! So, I am very happy, as you can imagine, I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE HIM! The kids are all very excited, Tara told him about his surprise party the other day while we were on the web cam. Gaber has been praying for daddy to come home for so long and I'm just so happy to see his prayer answered, I think he was really needing to see that God answers prayers. :) He's been questioning bible stuff a lot, wondering why God does this or that, asking why we go to church b/c "that doesn't get you to heaven" (which I'm so glad he knows that going to church can't get you there although he doesn't completely understand salvation yet.) Just random questions will come up at very random times of they day. I love to answer for them for him and I just keep praying that he will understand soon that he will have to accept Jesus as his Savior as well. Anyways...so we are all very happy that daddy is coming home and I cannot wait to NOT talk to him on the web cam anymore but face to face!

I have not done a potty training adventures in quite awhile. Here's an update, Tara went poop in the toilet twice while in MO and she did that before peeing in the toilet. Yesterday she wore panties all morning, no accidents, peed in the toilet (maybe for the 1st time), and then wore panties all evening, no accidents! Today was a different story though. She wore her panties all morning, no accidents, peed in the toilet. Tonight was a far different story, she pooped in her undies and was upset. Then she peed in her panties and was VERY UPSET! She came running to me screaming and crying, I had no clue what had happened, I thought she was scared about being in the shoe closet. I pick her up, not knowing she had wet herself, and sat her on my lap when I feel the warmth on my leg. Yep. So off to the bathroom we went for a nice bath to clean her up. Hopefully tomorrow there will be no pee peeing on herself or mommy!

That's all our new news, for now!

News

Jeff was told this week that he will not be returning home early, he will leave for home around April 28th which makes him getting home sometime in early May. Yes, I'm bummed but at least we finally have our answer. My days are long and sometimes hard, but we are still so blessed with the people in our church who are here to help me when I ask and he will actually leave earlier than the original date.
So, that's that.
Packers play tonight in the Super Bowl! Go Pack! :)

My Day

Today I was determined to get cleaning, schooling and being a mom all done. I did all of that and now I have back pains and I'm just plain tired. This morning I chatted with Jeff on Oovoo, then got Tara and I dressed, made breakfast, cleaned bathrooms, had Tara "clean" bathroom door to give her something to do, mopped bathroom floors, did 2 loads of laundry, went threw Tara's clothes, organized her drawers, went threw my closet, made lunch, cleaned up from lunch, did school with Siah and Gaber, THEN remopped bathroom floor b/c Gaber over flowed the toilet (and yes, he had just gone #2, ugh.), had to unclog the toilet (which I've never done), washed bathroom rug b/c it was soaked with toilet water, had to clean the trash can and step stool that got wet from toilet water, um lets see....went over Siah's quizes with him, got Tara up from nap, colored, traced Tara's hand for the 100th time, made supper, cleaned up from supper, played blocks with Tara, played with Tara's weeble wobble toy (with her :), watched Tara turn her table upside down so she could jump on and off of it, listened to boys read together :), helped Tara get in her Mega Blocks bag, told her that we can't zip it shut with her in it :), helped Tara clean up blocks, gave Tara bath (during bath she had to get out 3 times to sit on the toilet b/c she acted like she needed to poop and she has a bad habit of going in the tub), gave Gaber a bath, laid Tara down for bed :), had Siah get in shower, cleaned up the rest of toys, had boys clean up their room, prayed with boys, and now I am sitting and enjoying some down time!
So that was my day and I was very busy, but I like being busy b/c my day goes by so much faster which means I am one day closer to Jeff being home. The only part I didn't enjoy was cleaning up toilet water and unclogging the toilet. Yuk. For those of you who are wondering about Jeff and his return, we are now being told February. I'm sure hoping for that, but we will believe it when he is on the plane. He did have his end of tour award ceremony which would make one believe he is coming home.

1-11-11

I was sitting here, trying to think of a title for this blog but couldn't come up with one until I realized what the date was. :) If I couldn't come up with a better title, that means I really don't have much to blog about. No update on Jeff, no new news about the kids, and nothing exciting going on here. Just wanted to blog.
Yes, Jeff is still in Afghanistan and there are STILL no plans for him coming home this month, BUT he is remaining packed so he is ready, just in case. At least we still have a glimmer of hope. The other possibility is now for February as an early return date, but I really have no confidence in that. If he doesn't come home this month, I will just plan on May.
Today I taught Gaber the oo sound, the one in "Loon". We learned that is some kind of big duck that lives up in the northern American lakes. Then I taught Tara how to get her way with daddy. I showed her how to tilt her head, place her hands up by her cheeks, bat the eyelashes and say please. It still needs work, its very mechanical right now, but its still so cute. I tried to video it but the camera died as soon as I turned it on. I can't wait for Jeff to see her do that, I know he'll love it. :)
Yesterday and last night we got snow here in MO. The boys played out in it this morning for about an hour. I had to make them come in, it is just to cold for them to stay outside for too long. They are wanting to get back out there this afternoon and I'm ready for them to go! :) I love these days when they want to spend the whole day out b/c it wears them out so nicely for bedtime.

Happy New Year!

We had a a good year last year, but I'm so happy its 2011 b/c my hubby comes home this year! For those of you who are following this to know if Jeff will come home early or not, we do not know yet. I guess the head people there want to reassign the men to another job and not let them come home early. But for the air force guys, its not up to the head people there, but its up to some people in Europe. So now we are waiting on their decision. I've decided to plan on May but hope for January. I'm thankful that this is even a possibility for us, so many other wives have their husbands over there for much longer w/ no chance of an early return. So, just keep praying for us!

The boys and I got back to school today. I gave them a week off...and that week off seemed to be 3 months off for Gaber. He forgot so much in such a short amount of time. It was a frustrating day for me, trying to work with on material he knows and trying to be a sweet momma and not a mean one. lol We got threw it, finally, but I think this has showed me to NOT give him the summer off. I think we will work on school work threw the summer too, just less amount and just review of the year. *hoping I stick to this!*